TWOTY 2008 Review! - Pics Fixed!

**PICS HAVE BEEN FIXED!!!!**

When DH and I went to 2007’s The Wedding of the Year, it never even crossed my mind that I’d be the bride at the next one! I was really shocked when I heard I would be the bride (in fact I had just run to Starbucks and missed the announcement !!). I want to thank Ron, Liz, Kim, and the entire LIW team for allowing me to be a bride again, this time without all the stress of planning and money worries! ;) We had a fabulous time at TWOTY and feel lucky to have been able to be a part of it!

The full review is below, but I really wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all the vendors that participated in this year’s TWOTY. They 100% donated all of their services – can you imagine the amount of $ and TIME that is? To donate their services is amazing and without their generosity, we wouldn’t have a TWOTY each year – so THANK YOU!!!!!

*All of the pics below are pro pics by Dan Saviano*

Ceremony and Reception Venue
Venetian Yacht Club
Babylon, New York
My DH and I had heard wonderful things about the Venetian Yacht Club, but had never been there until the day of TWOTY. We found the place to be very beautiful and the service to be top notch! We had full use of both bridal suites, had the ceremony in the beautiful room with the atrium, the cocktail hour on the main floor and the reception in the ballroom upstairs. The floors are gorgeous and so is the view from the many windows. The food was delish, the venetian hour – YUM!!! They did a really great job and anyone having their wedding at VYC will be so pleased!!!

Lobby


One of the bridal suites


Ceremony room – beautiful atrium!


Courtyard outside cocktail hour room



Venetian hour sweets! YUMMM!

















Hair
Chic Hair Trends
Tina of Chic Hair Trends did my hair for TWOTY. Just like makeup, I wanted a different hair look for TWOTY than I had for my October wedding. Also, with the v-neck style of TWOTY gown and it being more covered up front, I really thought that an updo would look best. I wanted a soft updo that wasn’t quite “messy” but wasn’t perfectly styled or slicked back. The end result was very pretty and the best part was that it stayed ALLL day and night, and very importantly, my head didn’t hurt!!! I can get headaches easily, especially with 100 pins (lol, at least it felt that way) in my head, but nope! Tina also did Marie’s (Brian and Marie) and Christina’s hair. Marie’s hair was styled into a flipped out bob and Christina had a half up style with curls in the back.



Marie’s hair



Hair
Concours D’elegance
Maria of Concours D’elegance styled Rosella, Kristin, and Liz for TWOTY. She did a great job styling each one in a different style- they looked beautiful. Rosella had a half up style with curls pinned up and curls down her back. Kristin’s hair and a swoop in the front and then was styled into an intricate updo that she loved. Liz’s curly hair was styled into a half up style.

Rosella’s half up style


Kristin getting prepped





Makeup
Fresh Face Forward
Stacey of Fresh Face Forward did my makeup and I loved that she asked what I wanted and did just that! I wanted a bit more dramatic eye, but not harsh, and softer makeup everywhere else. I really wanted a different look from my wedding in October – I loved my makeup for that, but for TWOTY, I figured why not change it up. Stacey did a fabulous job – the airbrush makeup looked flawless and I really liked the colors she used and how she applied them!

Sabrina of Fresh Face Forward did Kristin’s (CuriousGeorge) makeup and I thought it was perfect! The neutral colors she used were so complimentary to Kristin’s skin and hair color. She also did a fabulous job!





Kristin:


Makeup
Angel Eyes Makeup Artistry
Denise of Angel Eyes made up Marie, Rosella, Liz, and Christine. Each of them looked beautiful – the makeup accentuated their beautiful features!

Rosella




Dresses
Village Bridal & Boutique
Babylon, NY
All the ladies in the bridal party were allowed to borrow a beautiful gown from Village Bridal. The store is brand new and very beautiful. They have a really nice collection of dresses and the staff was very nice and helpful. All the ladies met up with Kim, Ron, and Tom (video!) one night and picked out our dresses. When I got there, the bridesmaids had chosen their beautiful champagne colored gowns – three different styles – and I got to look through their wedding gown collection. To start, one gown had been put aside for me to try on already, and I picked out a beautiful gown that I thought wouldn’t even fit. Well, as soon as I put that one on, I loved it and we all agreed it was the one. Never thought it would be that easy to pick a new wedding gown! And the fit was virtually perfect! I went back a week later to have my fitting and they just took up the straps and hemmed the gown – voila! I have to give major props to Julita (sp?) of Village Bridal – she was my bridal attendant and was always so super sweet!

My bridal gown by San Patrik (gown name: Baza)






Rosella’s MOH Gown by Bill Levkoff


Marie’s BM Gown by Impression Bridal


Kristin’s BM Gown by Bill Levkoff



Jewelry for the bridal party
Thomas Knoell Designs
Thomas Knoell designs BEAUTIFUL jewelry – no doubt about that! I had wanted to get one of his headbands for my October wedding, but at the time it was not in our budget. Imagine my delight when I heard Thomas would be designing our jewelry for TWOTY!!! I was able to speak to Thomas himself over the phone and then meet with him to decide on jewelry for the day of. He also designed the jewelry that the bridesmaids wore.

My bridal jewelry:
One large hair comb and two small ones




Necklace & earrings – pearls and crystals





Pearl and crystal bracelet


BM’s earrings – champagne colored crystals



Tuxedos
Bonaventure Tuxedo
The guys all looked extremely handsome in their tuxedos from Bonaventure. My DH told me that he had a great experience with Bonaventure Tuxedo and his tux was very sharp! In fact, his tux was stain resistant! My DH accidentally spilled a little sauce on his jacket, and it just beaded up and he was able to wipe it off without a problem!







Ron in his morning suit/tux



Officiant
Captain Arnold
www.NauticalWeddingBells.com
As part of TWOTY, my DH and I got to renew our wedding vows (yes, a whole 3 months after our wedding! ) with Captain Arnold. From the first time he called me to go over the ceremony til the day of the wedding, Captain Arnold was always very nice and helpful. I actually asked him if we could include the Hands ceremony because it was the one thing that we didn’t have time for at our wedding in October, and he had no problem with that at all! He did a great job and after TWOTY, he mailed us a picture of us and a certificate with the vows that we had said! It was a very nice gesture and something we can keep as a great memory.





Sand ceremony




Hands Ceremony


DOC
Exquisite Affairs Productions
The ladies of Exquisite Affairs Productions are just fabulous. Not only did we have Christine Viola, but we also had Hollie Pena Holmes and Tara Geremia - it was great because we got to see all of them in action and I can honestly say that no matter WHO you book from EAP, you will be so pleased. They were everywhere that day and made sure everything went right. We had a small issue with one of the bracelets being 2 inches too small – well, lo and behold, a little invisible string and Kristin (CuriousGeorge) was able to wear the lovely bracelet with no one being the wiser! They pinned up Rosella’s (MrsBartonToBe) dress in the back to make a bustle, they helped me go to the bathroom (yes  I needed help! And Christine was SO sweet that I was surprisingly not embarrassed!). I mean, you name it and they did it. And all with a smile and a sincerity that made it pleasant to have them around. They definitely deserve an A+.

They helped me get dressed and put on my jewelry




***MUSIC AND ENTERTAINMENT***

Trumpets
Royal Brass
The trumpeters from Royal Brass greeted the guests as they arrived to the Venetian Yacht Club – the sound of live trumpets was awesome. As we waited in the bridal suites downstairs, the sounds of the trumpets were clear as if they were right next to us. They sounded wonderful!


Music for the Ceremony
Juliana Riccardi
The music for the ceremony was very beautiful – what an amazing touch to have live music while we renewed our vows! While I was trying to concentrate on the words that Captain Arnold was saying, the music still stood out and was very lovely!


Cocktail Hour Music
Islandboys Steelpan Calypso Band
I loved the calypso band during the cocktail hour! The sounds were so nice – not the usual cocktail hour music and I thought it was perfect for an on-the-water location like Venetian Yacht Club (although I think it would fit in ANY RH setting!). They did a great job and sounded wonderful!


Band
Echoe Orchestras
The band did a great job – loved the live music! They played a good variety of music and it was great to hear some classics in a live sound setting! They had a lot of energy and there were a number of singers so they were able to sing so many different types of songs. Great job!

You can see the band in the background of this picture



DJ
FM Entertainment
I had always heard wonderful things about FM Entertainment and after TWOTY, I now seriously wonder why in the world my DH and I didn’t meet with them before our wedding! They did a FABULOUS job! The music they chose was perfect and had everyone up and dancing. They even livened up the crowd when there were less people out dancing. Super entertaining, great choice of music and I think anyone who has them booked will be SOOOOO beyond thrilled with them!

Marie enjoyed the music as did everyone!



Percussionist
Pat Davis Percussionist
After the disappointment of not having our percussionist show up at our October wedding, I was really excited to have a percussionist at TWOTY. I love the extra “oomph” that a live percussionist gives to the music. I wish I had thought about it while at TWOTY, but I would have loved to go up and play on them!!! Pat Davis did a great job!





***PHOTOGRAPHY/VIDEO***

Photographer
Dan Saviano
My DH and I loved Dan! He was so much fun to have around throughout the day and made taking pictures fun! He caught some awesome moments throughout the day, was never intrusive, and when we took formal shots, he had some original suggestions. Once we saw the preview of the pro pics, I was thrilled! And now that I have the rest of the pics, I can honestly say that they are all great pictures!!! Dan did an amazing job and when I called him last week to request that he send me a copy of the pics directly so I could have them to post my review, he was super sweet and told me he’d have them out by the end of the week – and he did! Thanks Dan!

Here are a whole bunch of the wonderful shots Dan got:

Rosella while getting her hair done


My e-ring on the heel of the red shoes I wore under my gown




And in the straps of my white shoes I switched into later


The groomsmen drinking beer DURING the ceremony


And then the BM handed DH a beer!


The reaction



Shots in the lobby







Cool shot in the stairwell


During the first dance (to “At Last”)


2008 Brides to be!
*2009 update: Who knew the NEXT TWOTY bride was standing on the right end of that pic?!?! Hey Yelley!


A little dip and kiss after we cut the cake



The entire bridal party





Videographer
Golden Moments
While I haven’t seen any video from TWOTY, I will say that one of the most important things for me with a videographer is that they not be in everyone’s way. Golden Moments was definitely NOT intrusive at TWOTY and I’m sure they caught everything even though I felt like they were incognito! Major brownie points for that!

Videographer
Tom of LIW!
I wanted to give a shoutout to Tom of LIW – he took video of the entire day and also video of the pre-TWOTY things like when the ladies went to get their dresses, when Ron went to get his tux, and even came out with Christina to get video of me and DH taking one of our dance lessons! You can see a recap of TWOTY and the behind the scenes on LIWedddings.TV!


***FLOWERS***

Bouquets
LA Blossom
Laurie at LA Blossom did all the bouquets for the bridal party. She did a fabulous job! I loved that each bouquet had a matching boutonniere for the lady’s husband. My bouquet was a beautiful lily of the valley and pink ranunculus (they look like peonies!), wrapped in white with a monogram tag on it! I loved it! The other bouquets were equally as impressive. One had a beachy theme with a starfish and little seashells. Another was placed in a silver small handbag – something none of us had seen before! The last was beautiful arrangement of multi color roses, wrapped in a monogrammed bouquet wrap! And the guys looked super sharp with their matching bouts! We were all very impressed with LA Blossom!

Bridal bouquet – lily of the valley and pink ranunculus


Laurie even had a custom monogram disc made for the bouquet which I got to keep after the wedding. The disc was made by www.allisonaruta.com and I was able to send them the disc after TWOTY and they converted it into a necklace!!! I love it so much! Definitely check out their site if you’re looking for a cool way to personalize your bouquet or other things!


BM’s bouquets


The guys’ bouts



Florists - Centerpieces:

Flower Michele
Lovin Oven Floral Designs
Florisan LLC
LA Blossom

The floral arrangements at TWOTY were so beautiful! Each of the centerpieces on the 20+ tables was unique. The arrangements varied in color, design, etc, but each was very beautiful and artistic. There were designs to go with any color scheme, season, or theme. The florists definitely outdid themselves with the arrangements – some of which I had never even seen before! Thank you to each of the florists for doing such a phenomenal job. Below are just some of the many centerpieces!!!






















Entryway floral arrangements by
Hidden Essence
The entryway at VYC looked amazing and a large part of the reason why is the beautiful floral arrangements created by Michelle of Hidden Essence! I loved the different height pillars and the way the flowers were arranged. Just beautiful. Michelle also was there at the end of the night making individual bouquets for each of the female guests at TWOTY! Great job!




***DETAILS***

Cake
Audrey’s Fine Baked Goods
MMMMMMMM cake! The beautiful cake went perfectly with the opulence theme of TWOTY. It was covered in white fondant with red flowers and a cascading drape effect also in fondant. The cake itself was red velvet with cream cheese filling – YUMMMMM! Believe it or not, it was my and my DH’s first time having red velvet cake! It was great!






Wedding Slideshow
Retrospect Slideshows
Being the picture fanatic that I am, I was very happy to hear that Retrospect Slideshows would be doing a slideshow of us for TWOTY. I was in contact with Krissi and we went over what the options were and I was able to send her the pictures we wanted to use and they created the great slideshow! They even presented us with our own copy with a custom DVD case. Thanks!!!


Favors:
Pippy’s Sweets
Linda’s Lovelies
CJB Designs
Retrospect Slideshows
The favors for TWOTY were definitely sweet! Pippy’s Sweets’ favor was a honeypot jar filled with Hershey Kisses, wrapped in a white box with a red ribbon and monogram tag. CJB Designs gave out personalized chocolates (who doesn’t love chocolate???). Linda’s Lovelies’ favor was a set of Love coasters. Retrospect Slideshows provided a DVD favor.

All in all, the favors were varied and I’m sure everyone loved them all as much as we did!


Invitations & Calligraphy
EZ Calligraphy
The invitations were very pretty and a great opening for TWOTY. I loved the folder design and the colors and design were a perfect match to the red color theme for TWOTY. The invitations and calligraphy were very elegant – a great job by EZ Calligraphy!


Photobooth
NYC Photobooth
I was extremely excited when I found out there would be a photobooth at TWOTY – it was the ONE thing that I had really really really wanted for our wedding, but didn’t get. It’s definitely a lot of fun and I love the prints. I believe most of the guests loved it too since the line was long! I think the printouts make for a great keepsake after a wedding – for the guests and for the bride & groom. It’s definitely a big plus and something different that can be appreciated by everyone of all ages.


Menus and Programs
A Bridal Paperie
The programs and menu were very elegantly created by A Bridal Paperie. They had a monogram on the cover of both. I loved the layered design of the programs and the menus had a beautiful textured heart at the top center. Very pretty!

Programs:


Menu (NON PRO PIC):



Aisle Runner and Table Numbers
Fleur Creations
One of our very own 07 brides, Maria (aka FullersBride) has her own business called Fleur Creations. She did the FABULOUS red aisle runner that had LITERALLY over 1,000 crystals in the Q of the monogram! It was amazing, something I had never seen before. I would be surprised if many new brides don’t request this – it looked wonderful, such a nice unique touch (that was SURELY time consuming!) and I loved that the aisle runner was later used as a tablecloth under the wedding cake! Talk about multi-functional. The best part is that Maria offered to frame the monogram on the aisle runner for us! I can’t wait to see the finished product.

Fleur Creations also did all the table numbers. They were so beautiful and different – the cardstock she used was a lovely textured material and the tables were named after famous paintings, so a photo of the respective painting was on each card. Very original and definitely fit the opulence theme of TWOTY. I can honestly say that anyone who books Maria will be thrilled with the final result – her attention to detail was amazing!








***EXTRAS***


Dance Lessons for Bride and Groom
Starlight Ballroom Dance Studio
My DH and I were lucky enough to receive 5 dance lessons courtesy of Starlight Ballroom Dance Studio. Due to time constraints on our part, we had to do the 5 lessons in 3 days (two 2 hour lessons and 1 one hour lesson) – SUGGESTION TO ALL FUTURE BRIDES AND GROOMS – do NOT wait til the week before your wedding to start dance lessons! Although DH and I were able to learn enough of the basics to do the Rhumba, it definitely would have been even better if we had started farther in advance! Still, our instructor, Maria, did a wonderful job of teaching us the Rhumba – a dance neither of us had EVER done before. We had a great time at the lessons and had fun (trying to do) the dance at TWOTY!


Limo for Bride and Groom
Cruise Control Limousines
After TWOTY, we were treated to a limo ride from Cruise Control Limos – the limo was beautiful, clean, super comfy, and the ride was smooth! We were interviewed by Christina (with Tom taking video) during our limo ride, so hopefully if they post that, you can see video of the limo!


Wedding Night Suite for Bride and Groom
Four Points by Sheraton - Plainview
DH and I were lucky enough to get a one night stay at the Four Points by Sheraton in Plainview for the night of TWOTY. We stayed in the Bridal Suite on the first floor and it was super nice and spacious! We had a full bath, standing glass shower, bedroom with a big flatscreen!, separate living room area with a sofa and extra tv, and a separate two-person Jacuzzi area! The bed had rose petals all over, there was a bottle of champagne and Ferrero Rocher chocolates… YUM! Honestly, it was VERY nice and the staff at the hotel was also very nice and gracious. I highly recommend this hotel! They also had a computer area right near our suite with free computer and online use! I posted on LIW that night (yes, DH says I’m addicted, lol). But it was great to see some of the pics that other lovely LIWers had already posted. Overall, I give the Four Points by Sheraton the highest marks!


Picking up bride and groom after honeymoon
Serenity Limousines
Eddie of Serenity Limos picked us up at the Four Points by Sheraton the day after TWOTY. He picked us up in a Suburban limo! Only the 2nd one made!!! It was very nice! Everything was super clean, new, and comfy. Eddie was also very nice and we were able to chat with him a bit about TWOTY (he drove the bride and groom at the 2007 TWOTY too!) and about the area (DH and I are not from LI). It was a very nice ride and I highly recommend them.


***AND WE CAN’T FORGET…***

Kim of LIWeddings
Kim planned the entire TWOTY and did a fabulous job!!! I wanted to give Kim a special shoutout since everything was beautiful you can tell that a lot of thought and planning went into the entire event! Great job Kim! Thank you for doing such a great job!


Ron & Liz of LIWeddings
And of course to Ron & Liz – thank you for creating LIWeddings, for maintaining such a great resource for NY brides and grooms, and also for coming up with the idea of TWOTY, for pulling it off every year, and for the generous prizes that LIWeddings gives out at TWOTY and throughout the year. For everything that you do, THANK YOU!!!!!!!!




And that’s all folks! I hope you enjoyed my review!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

What a great review! And how fun to have a 2nd wedding. You looked gorgeous!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

fabulous review yesi!! such a blessing to be able to be a bride again! u were BEAUTIFUL and all the vendors look like they did a FABULOUS job!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Very Nice Congrats. Everything was beautiful

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Great review, Yesenia!!! Everything was beautiful!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

FAB Review Yesi!!!

I had such an awesome time being your bridesmaid in TWOTY!!! All the vendors were amazing!! Thank you Ron and Liz for the oppportunityy!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Looks like you had a lot of fun at your second wedding. That would be great you didn't have to worry about a thing!~

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

WOOHOO Yesi, awesome job! I'm so happy that you got a chance to re-do your day.... in a way that is. Soooo lucky! You looked amazing...and that BP was HOT!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

You looked Beautiful!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Great Review! You looked beautiful and so did all of the girls!!!!!!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Wonderful

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

What a great review, you looked sooo beautiful and how great that you got to have a second wedding!!!!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Aghhh! The review won't all come up on my phone!!! I'm gunna get to a comp asap so I can see the whole thing. I was able to read some of it though and Yesi you did a great job so far, of course! wouldn't expect anything less!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Great review!!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Everything looks so awesome! Lucky girl you were. Great pictures, great wedding!!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

BEAUTIFUL Girls! Yesi you know I love ya to pieces and wish I could steal your shoes even more MArie I liked your hair! I want to try that style for going out next time it gets long enough. It was fun.

Ro you're just FINE All of you guys looked amazing and the guys were no slouches either. Wish I coulda been there

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

great review! thanks for sharing!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

B-E-A-U-TIFUL!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

Great Review Yesi!!! You looked AMAZING !!!

Re: TWOTY 2008 Review!

you made a beautiful bride!! thanks for the detailed review!!